The Opelousas courier., 1887-11-12
IN CHINA.
A Tour of the Tien Tsin Shops.
q Tien Tsin Correspondent.

In the silk shops we went into inner rooms
and had quiet and cool seclusion to ENJOY the
rolls of satlns, silks, grapes, gauZes ana
pougles in all the soEtand brilliant Golors tflat
The Chinese can dye so well. Fine grass
cloths, as sheer as linen: carnbric, bul strong
az drilling, with q lustre like satin, te1npts
one in these hot climates where only wash
dresses are endurablc, and one fresh white
dress every day is the regulation, and there
are soft washing silks i'll the palest blues,
pInks and llacs thai can be put in the tub
without q tremor. In the larger silk shops
they wait on you with u%nc0nceTn Gndwith al
indifference and after you have
&eggaIed yourself, make .you feel that yours
~ n petty transaction for them. One could not
ne more etfectually srubbed by the clerks in
certain Broadway stores. One silk merchant
ter VT had shaken our heads at all his rolls
OF silk, he brought ont some much worn
Il esses covered with ernbroideries that would
make a, saint e%nVIoGs. There was one old
tatln rob faded down to the most artistic
If dull. pinkish red, on which was embroid-
red n@Nnd of whirIing dragons with the
lotion OF the skirt all conventional blue and
white waves and spray, and the upper air
that an offer of SIS was sufficient. There was
= plum-co!ored satin coat embroidered with
flowers in soft blue and greenish white with
.sraipbow border of butterflies, and a vel
low silk petticoat all futtering with bright
butterflies and other things as tempting and
gorgeous, for which the old scamp would
regularly take less than half his first price.
Ne watched silvers:nitlis beating away at
lie gold and silver hairpins that hold the
remarkable locks and loops of hair that the
lien Isin women wear, and q few of them
were near with their hair built up and plas-
tered out into a~nyll-shaped knobs on their
heads, or stitfened ontintOo one thin strip like
a flying buttress and held by these ornament
IL pins. The porcelain shops had little that
vas fine, but mu4h that is curious to any one
who does not 1--we III China, and one wants a
InTral fuII of the nf1nGplv chapc1 nnranlai,
teapots, and the, Hankow teapots made of
finely worked red clay that are supposed to
improve the flavor of the tea the longer they
are III use. Camels'-halr rugSare a specially
OF Tien fsln, and in the old city there are q
dozen places where one can see them working
ut the upright frames and slowly weaving in
the tufts OF camel's hair and Tightening the
work with O steel comb. The camel trains
that go from Peking over to Siberia carrying
the tea and merehandise for the Russian trade
furnish she wool, and the canels shed their
hair in spring time IN great rolls and tufts,
soahat they need neither clipping nor comb
ing to get IL. The camel drivers pick 1t off
by handsfull and in long strips, and here it
IS bleached, dyed and woven. The colors usu-
ally employed are dark blue, light grayish
Glue, white and the natural brown color of
The hair after it is washed. When let alone
The weayers made the carpets OF these har-
moniqus %colors, with d key pattern in dark
blu for a border, an intricate geonietrical
figure or character for a centre piece and q
ground OF white or natural brown dotted
with conventional blue butterflies. These
went charmingly with a room full of old blue
and white porcelain, and connoiseurs have
made some wonderfully artistic interiors out
here. 4be weavers have lately taken @ great
fancy to aniline dyes and cabbage rose pat
terms, and one sees some awful Nightmares in
the experimenting places. Fifteen cents a
square foot is the way they charge for them,
and they only weave as the orders arc giye4
them.
In China, as in Gpan, one meets with the
~Sad fact that the best fans made in these
p4utries are to be bought in New York and
rsfdisn the spot. The buyers for lerican
mlbSEs fEs seem to get hold OF all the Dest99an
makers: sfsy up all they have, and keep them
ut work ooEFl,sseir orders for thousands and
millions Of feos One dreams of picking up
heath, but It IL tio2srely done, and then one
pays perhaps more 7 t,t TIE J NsW York : { price:
brought me only some ~ scoop fans of
fine rice paper, painted WITH ne groupsin
soft colors. In the real curio lips, where
Chinese eanneisseurs go, there afssNsade and
crystal, bronze ana porcelain thin. whose
prices arc more startling than their ngssQty.
bnt which are wrapped, in silk and hassAsed
so r~eVerentiy and ~afIectonately that one-4s
to treat the things with respect. No